Fort Lauderdale needs to build a new City Hall.
Done right, that project serves the public twice. It gives the city a permanent home for its government, and it creates good jobs for local workers.
Miguel Aragon is a union leader in Broward County urging Fort Lauderdale to build a new City Hall (Courtesy)
A 2023 flood damaged the old building at 100 North Andrews Avenue. The building was later torn down, and the site now sits cleared.
For more than three years, city workers have served residents from leased offices scattered across town. People still need public meetings, access to records, and a central place where local government works under one roof.
The emergency workaround has lasted long enough.
I lead Construction and Craft Workers Local 1652, part of LIUNA (Laborers International Union of North America).
We represent working men and women in the building trades across Broward County and South Florida. Our members clear sites, pour concrete, move materials, install utilities, support demolition, and keep job sites safe.
We want our members to help build this city’s next City Hall, and we want residents to see real public value from it. Those goals belong together.
A project of this size creates work for laborers, apprentices, drivers, equipment operators, suppliers, and small businesses across the area.
Good construction jobs support the middle class.
A trained worker earns a fair wage, has health coverage, pays taxes, buys groceries, covers the rent or mortgage, and raises a family with more security.
Those dollars stay here. They move through local stores, restaurants, gas stations, child care centers, and small businesses. Public work should serve the public in more than one way.
This project needs skilled labor for a straightforward reason. Fort Lauderdale needs a City Hall built for South Florida and built to last. Taxpayers deserve a building built once, and built well.
And the city workers who serve the public every day deserve a safe, modern, reliable place to do it.
Our members are ready to build it. They live in this region, they spend in this region, and they take pride in work people will use for decades.
Fort Lauderdale has a clear choice. Keep stretching a temporary setup, or build a
permanent City Hall with skilled local workers and pride in the work.
Build the City Hall. Build the jobs. Build both right.
Miguel Aragon of Pompano Beach is business manager of Construction and Craft Workers Local 1652, part of the Laborers’ International Union of North America.